Poland

Geography

Economics

Demographics

Military

Politics

Surface

Surface (in square kilometers)

Surface (in square miles)

Surface (water)

Water Surface (in square kilometers)

Water Surface (in square miles)

Share of water (%)

Temperature

Average temperature (in Celcius)

Average temperature (in Farenheit)

Average high temperature (in Celcius)

Average high temperature (in Farenheit)

Average low temperature (in Celcius)

Average low temperature (in Farenheit)

Rainfall

Average rainfall (mm)

Average rainfall (inch)

Distance to other capitals (kilometers)

Distance to other capitals (miles)

Proximity

Economic organizations

Gross Domestic Product (US$)

Gross Domestic Product per capita

Amount of memberships (economic organizations)

Absolute earnings for every 1$

Relative earnings

GDP in PPP per capita (in US$)

GDP in PPP per capita

Gross Domestic product (in million US$)

GDP per capita (in US$)

Surface GDP

GDP per square kilometer (in US$)

GDP per square mile(in US$)

Relative GDP in PPP

Population

Population density

Emigration

Immigration

Literacy

Health

Population density (in km2)

Population density (in mi2)

Religion

Christianity (share of the total population)

Islam (share of the total population)

Buddhism (share of the total population)

Hinduism (share of the total population)

Judaism (share of the total population)

Other religions (share of the total population)

Non-religious (share of the total population)

Military spending (in % of GDP)

Military spending

In total, Poland spends US$11.9 billion on its military, or 2.05 percent of its GDP. This makes Poland the 22nd highest military spender in the world and represents 0.62 percent of total global military expenditure.

The military of Poland, called the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, consists of land forces and an air force and a Navy. Its main activities have been supportive roles for the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Military membership

Poland is also a member of 16 international military organizations. This makes it the most militarily connected state in the world. It is a member of the following organizations:

Common Security and Defence Policy
Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation
Permanent Structured Cooperation
Member state of NATO
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
Conference on Disarmament
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Wassenaar Arrangement
Nuclear Suppliers Group
Australia Group
Missile Technology Control Regime
International Atomic Energy Agency
Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization
NATO
Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative

Military membership

International wars

Poland has partaken in 28 international wars. These are:

Livonian War 1558-1583
Northern Seven Years' War
Polish–Swedish War (1600–11)
Polish–Muscovite War (1605–18)
Polish–Swedish War (1617–18)
Polish–Swedish War (1611–15)
Smolensk War 1631-1634
Russo-Polish War (1654–67)
Second Northern War 1655-1660
Great Northern War 1700-1711

Polish–Russian War of 1791 1791-1791
Kościuszko Uprising 1794-1794
Denisko uprising 1797-1797
Napoleonic Wars 1803-1815
January Uprising 1863-1865
World War I 1914-1918
Russian Civil War 1917-1911
Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts 1918-1958
Greater Poland Uprising 1918-1919
Polish–Czechoslovak War 1919-1919

Polish–Soviet War 1919-1911
Polish–Lithuanian War 1910-1910
Third Silesian Uprising 1911-1911
World War II 1939-1945
First Indochina War 1946-1954
Vietnam War 1955-1975
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia 1968-1968
Iraq War 2003-2011

Number of international wars fought

Military spending (in US$ million)

Membership (international political organizations)

In total, Poland is a member of 20 international political organizations. This makes it the 4th most connected state in the world. It is a member of the following organizations:

Member state of the United Nations
International Labour Organization
European Union
the Council of Europe
Central European Initiative
Energy Community
Council of the Baltic Sea States
HELCOM (Helsinki Commission)
Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (NDPHS)
Visegrád Group
European Cooperation in Science and Technology
Union for the Mediterranean
International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property

Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy
UNIDROIT
International Criminal Court
Interpol
Permanent Court of Arbitration
Association of World Election Bodies
World Organization for Animal Health

Political Membership

Democracy/dictatorship rating

Despite having free and regular elections, Poland has made a shift over the last decade which has led to the erosion of separation of its political and judicial branch. This makes Poland to the 53rd most democratic state in the world.

Democracy/Dictatorship

The politics of Poland take place in the form of a representative democratic republic where the president is head of state and the Prime Minister is head of government. Its elections take place every five years for the presidency and every four years for the parliament.

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Known for its flat landscapes, its sausages as well as being in the center of many European struggles, Poland has had many struggles to retain its independence. Up until the Middle Ages, the area was inhabited by several different tribes such as the Celts, the Slavs and Germanic tribes. In the 10th century, many of these tribes united under a Polish state. In 1569, Poland united itself with Lithuania and formed the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth where it became part of the Teutonic Knights as well as the Russians. However, at the end of the 18th century, Poland succumbed to the powers of Russia Austria and Prussia which partitioned of the Polish territory among themselves. Only after the first world war did Poland regain its independence in 1918. However, in 1939, Nazi Germany, together with the Soviet Union attacked Poland and partitioned the territory among them. After the defeat of the Nazis, Poland came under the rule of the Soviet Union and remained so until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, Poland has joined NATO in 1999 and the European union in 2004.

Located in eastern Europe, the geography of Poland consists of flat terrain on its northern part that runs from East to West and a mountainous terrain that runs along its southern border. Its terrain mainly consists of grasslands which alternates with densely forested areas which are spread out throughout Poland. In total, Poland borders seven other states with the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the north, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, and Czechia and Slovakia to the south and Germany to the west.

It is the 69th largest state with a total surface area of 314.259 square kilometers or 121.337 square miles. This makes Poland slightly smaller than Oman and slightly larger than Côte d’Ivoire.

It has a total water surface area of 795 square kilometers or 307 square miles. This makes Poland the 112th largest state in the world.

Below, a graph is shown which displays the absolute amount of water of each state in square kilometers and square miles.

n Poland, only about 1% of the land area is covered by water, with the Vistula River as the main waterway, and despite having many lakes, the country has relatively low water availability per capita compared to the European average.

The climate of Poland is a moderate maritime climate cold winters and moderate summers. The average temperature is 7.3 degrees Celsius or 45 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes Poland the 173rd warmest state in the world.

The average high temperature is 13.1 degrees Celsius or 56 degrees Fahrenheit.

The average low temperature is 0.9 degrees Celsius or 33.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Most of the rain occurs during the summer period in Poland between June and August. On average, Poland receives 62.5 centimetres or 24.6 inches of rainfall per year which ranks it as the 144th highest in the world.

The capital of Poland, Warsaw, is home to 1.8 million people. The closest capital is Vilnius, Lithuania, with a distance of 390 kilometers or 242 miles. The capital that is the furthest removed is Wellington, New Zealand, with a distance of 17.709 kilometers or 11.004 miles.

After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, Poland has started its economic process of liberalization. After joining the European union, a high amount of funds was made available which further enhanced economic growth. Its current economy is characterized as a market economy which is a mix between central planning and private enterprise. Most of the products that Poland exports are vehicles and electronics which are mainly exported to Germany which is solely responsible for more than 25 percent of all exports. Most of its imports also comes from Germany which is responsible for 20 percent of all imports.

Poland is a member of 15 international economic organizations. This makes it the 48th most connected state in the world. It is a member of the following organizations:

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
Bank for International Settlements
Council of Europe Development Bank
International Energy Agency
International Monetary Fund
OECD - Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
World Bank Group
World Customs Organization
World Trade Organization
TRACECA Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia
International Energy Agency

Energy Charter Treaty
Energy Community
Nuclear Energy Agency
International Renewable Energy Agency

It has a GDP of US$575 billion, which makes it the 23rd highest in the world and represents 0.7 percent of total global GDP.

Its GDP per surface area is the 51st highest in the world with US$1.828.966 per square kilometer or US$4.736.985 per square mile.

Its GDP per capita is the 57th highest in the world with US$15.061.

The absolute earnings (GDP per capita) reflect the average yearly income. The figure below shows how much, on average, an inhabitant of another state earns for every $1 earned by a citizen of this state.

Its purchasing power parity per capita is the 46th highest in the world with US$32.490.

The relative Gross Domestic Product in Purchasing Power Parity compares the purchasing power of this state with that of the rest of the world. The graph on the left shows how much purchasing power of 1$ compared to the purchasing power of other states

Poland is the 37th most populous state in the world with 38.2 million people. Its population is ethnically homogenous with more than 95 percent of being ethnic Poles. Naturally, Polish is its only official language. Other ethnicity these are mainly found in the border regions.

It has the 68th highest population density in the world with 121 people per square kilometer or 314 people per square mile.

Approximately 4.5 million people, or 11.9 percent of its population has migrated to other states. This makes Poland the 11th largest supplier of migrants and represents 1.8 percent of total global emigration. Because of its high unemployment rates, and the possibility to work within other states in the European union, many Poles migrated for economic reasons. The largest recipients of Polish migrants have been Germany and the United Kingdom which combined represent 30 percent of all Polish migrants.

Immigration to Poland is represented by 1.66 percent, or nearly 650,000 people which makes Poland the 54th state with the highest number of immigrants and represents 0.25 percent of total global immigration. More than a third originates from Ukraine.

Education within Poland's is free and compulsory between the ages of six and 12. After gaining its independence after the first world war, just over half of the population was literate. After making education compulsory in 1919, the literacy rate has increased to 99.1 percent which makes it the 23rd highest in the world.

Alongside with its economic improvement, Poland has made a large improvement to its healthcare system. This has led to improvements in treatments of noncommunicable diseases such as cancers and cardiovascular diseases and has shifted the largest health threats to noncommunicable diseases such as HIV AIDS as well as automobile accidents. The average life expectancy is 79.29 years which is the 42nd highest in the world. Women have an average life expectancy of 82.98 years, while men have an average life expectancy of 75.5 years.

The Polish Constitution provides freedom of religion towards all religions.

Christianity is the largest religion in Poland, and with 78.7 percent of the people adhering to Christianity, it is the 56th most Christian state in the world. The vast majority of Poles adhere to Catholicism which represents more than 90 percent of all Christians. The second largest Christian group in Poland adheres to Eastern orthodoxy.

Islam is represented by 0.01 percent of the population which makes Poland's the 177th most Islamic state in the world. Despite being introduced in the 14th century by the Tatars, and later on that the end of the 20th century by Muslim immigrants, the share of Muslims has remained fairly low due to Poland's view of Islam being incompatible with Catholicism.

Buddhism is represented by 0.23 percent of the population and are mainly represented by migrants that arrived from East Asia.

Hinduism is represented by 0.04 percent of the population and mainly consists of a few migrants from India as well as Polish people that converted to Hinduism.

Judaism is represented by less than 0.01 percent of the population. Jews have been present in Poland since the ninth century and by the end of the 19th century, Poland host the majority of Jews within Europe. However, during the second world war, the Jewish population was decimated and only a fraction remained alive after the second world war.

Other religions are represented by 0.06 percent of the population and are mainly adherents to paganism.

Irreligion is represented by 3.75 percent of the population. Despite having a communist past which outlawed all religions, only a small fraction of irreligion remained since its independence in 1991.